Neil Walker had a career-high six RBIs, including a three-run homer, and the Pittsburgh Pirates clinched their third straight playoff berth by beating the Colorado Rockies 13-7 on Wednesday night.
The Pirates secured at least a National League wild card as they chase first-place St Louis in the NL Central. They trail by four games with a home series coming up against the Cardinals.
Walker provided the bulk of the offense with a bloop, two-run single in the first and a towering three-run homer in the third off fill-in starter Christian Bergman (3-1). Walker ended his night with a run-scoring single as part of a six-run ninth to break open a tight game.
Photo: AFP
BLUE JAYS 4, YANKEES 0
In Toronto, Russell Martin hit a three-run home run, Marcus Stroman pitched seven strong innings to win his third straight start and the Blue Jays beat the Yankees, extending their American League East lead to 3.5 games.
Martin, who used to play for the Yankees, connected off Andrew Bailey in the seventh. Martin matched his career high for homers with 21 as Toronto took two of three from New York in a showdown between the division’s top teams.
Stroman (3-0) allowed five hits, walked one and struck out five in his third start since returning from a torn knee ligament suffered in spring training. The outing lowered his ERA to 1.89.
Brett Cecil worked the eighth and Roberto Osuna finished.
Starting in place of Masahiro Tanaka (right hamstring), New York right-hander Ivan Nova (6-9) took the mound for the first time since allowing six runs in 1-2/3 innings of a Sept. 12 loss to Toronto.
BRAVES 6, METS 3
In New York, Freddie Freeman broke a ninth-inning tie with a three-run homer after driving in two as a pinch hitter in the seventh as the Braves stunned the Mets in the finale of New York’s rough homestand.
David Wright had a tying, two-out single off Brandon Cuniff in the seventh after the Braves scored three times in the top half to take a 3-2 lead. However, closer Jeurys Familia failed in the ninth as the NL East leaders finished 3-6 on their penultimate set at Citi Field.
New York stayed 6.5 games in front of second-place Washington, whose 4-3 loss to Baltimore trimmed the Mets’ magic number to five for clinching the division title.
TWINS 4, INDIANS 2
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Phil Hughes pitched five scoreless innings in his return to the rotation as the Twins had rare success against Corey Kluber in a victory over the Indians to move within a game of the second AL wild-card spot.
Minnesota trails Houston by a game after the Astros lost to the Angels earlier on Wednesday.
Hughes (11-9) allowed four hits and struck out four. Brian Dozier homered and Trevor Plouffe had two doubles, a single and an RBI for the Twins (78-73).
Kluber (8-15) gave up four runs on five hits and struck out six in 3-2/3 innings for the Indians. Cleveland played without star outfielder Michael Brantley, who injured his shoulder while diving for a ball on Tuesday night.
Carlos Santana hit a two-run homer in the ninth for the Indians (74-76), who now trail the Astros by 5.5 games with 12 left to play.
In other MLB action, it was:
‧ Angels 6, Astros 5
‧ Royals 4, Mariners 3, 10 inns
‧ Tigers 7, White Sox 4
‧ Orioles 4, Nationals 3
‧ Marlins 4, Phillies 3, 11 inns
‧ Rays 6, Red Sox 2
‧ Brewers 4, Cubs 1
‧ Cardinals 10, Reds 2
‧ Padres 5, Giants 4
‧ Rangers 10, Athletics 3
‧ Dodgers 4, Diamondbacks 1
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier